Breaking Your Heart Was Never My Intention
by GirlWithTheNotebook
Summary: WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE SUMMER FINALE! Series of oneshots about the shock reveal in the PLL summer finale. It turns out A is even closer than the liars know. What happens when they realise someone they trusted is actually the one that wants to hurt them the most? And can anyone ever be sure of A's intentions? Ezria plus lots of the Liars friendship!
1. I Wish You Were The One That Got Away

**A/N: Hey guys! So this is the first instalment of 'Breaking Your Heart Was Never My Intention', for those of you that don't know this will be a series of oneshots about Ezra being A and this being discovered by Aria and the girls.**

**This first shot is the complete version of 'I Wish You Were The One Who Got Away: I Never Meant For This' which was originally uploaded in three parts. **

**So I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to review!**

**OH AND I OWN NOTHING. EXCEPT A BROKEN HEART. THANKS GUYS.**

* * *

Waiting for the others to finish getting their costumes on, Aria stared at her reflection in the full length mirror. She had picked out a dusky pink dress complete with a floral corset. The said corset was making breathing a little more effort than she would have liked. Aria cocked her head to side as she contemplated what to do with her hair.

She couldn't stop running over in her head what Grunwald had told them. What she had revealed about Ali being… alive. Aria could hardly dare to hope that their friend hadn't been lost that night; that Mrs DiLaurentis hadn't lost her daughter, Jason hadn't lost his sister.

But she still found it hard to believe that they were blindly trusting the word of a woman who had claimed to have a 'feeling'. As far as she was concerned, and as much as she wanted Ali to be alive, Aria just felt that it just raised more and more questions. And that it left the wide open for A to swoop in and attack them whilst they were vulnerable.

Aria snapped out of her thoughts as she heard Emily step up behind her.

'You look great Em.'

She smiled, it was true: the dark blue suited her friend. Emily came to stand behind her.

'Listen Ar, I know you think we're making a mistake trusting Grunwald…'

Aria help up her hand.

'It's okay Em, I think… that we need to be cautious. Grunwald could be telling the truth I guess, but that doesn't mean that we should blindly trust her.'

'Agreed.'

Spencer's voice sounded from behind the pair, her and Hanna came into sight.

'I really think that it's important we stick together on this.'

'Like we always have.'

Hanna reached for Aria's hand. She squeezed hers back reassuringly, smiling at Spencer.

'Together.'

The touching moment was interrupted by Emily shrieking:

'Guys! I think someone is in the lair!'

'WHAT!?'

Spencer ran forward to the window, followed closely by the others. Hanna spoke next,

'She's right I can see someone moving about.'

Suddenly the upper level of the building they had discovered A's lair to be in was plunged into darkness. The mysterious figure they saw through the window disappeared from view. Hanna moved to run out, but Spencer grabbed her arm:

'Stop, maybe we can get a look at whoever it is?'

Emily spoke up next.

'From what I could see it looked like a guy, what if it's board-shorts? Grunwald did say that he was here.'

But none of them could expect what happened next.

Emily was proved to be right, the figure that emerged was in fact male – but that was not what shocked the liars. Emily was the first to speak up, as the surreptitious figure lifted his head. His face now being visible from under the dark baseball cap that he wore.

'Is… is that…?'

'Oh, my, GOD.'

'Aria…'

Spencer turned to her friend only to see her already rushing out of the door.

* * *

Aria felt her heart crashing out of her chest, there had to be some kind of rational explanation for this. Why would he be there? He couldn't do this to her. Everything would have been a lie, and that couldn't possibly be right.

Aria could feel tears threatening to spill from her eyes, as she flung the doors of the costume store open. Striding forward to the side of the road, Aria felt breathless from running and the restricting corset. Her hazel eyes met his electric blue ones. Those eyes that used to look at her with nothing but love and care, and now they seemed cold as ice. There was no trace of the man she knew.

He turned his head slightly behind him, realising he had been caught. Aria could feel the tears beginning to fall down her face. She just wanted to run into his arms, for him to tell her that everything was okay, to explain everything, to kiss the hurt away.

As she took a tentative step forward, he took off, running down the sidewalk, weaving in and out of the gathering crowd.

'No… NO! EZRA!'

Without thinking, without listening to the protests of her friends, Aria took off running after him. She could feel the tears now cascading down her cheeks, her breath coming short as she desperately tried to go after him. She saw Ezra dart into an alley, she was quick to follow.

However when Aria ran into it she could see no sign of him. There were no bins to hide behind, no doors to go into. Breathing heavily, her tears escalating into sobs Aria spun around in a circle to try and find him – but he had disappeared.

'EZRA!'

She couldn't accept it, she just… how could he do this? How could _her _Ezra do this? The man that loved old black and white movies, the man that wrote her a poem, the man that adored his son and was so heartbroken at the prospect of losing him – how could he be A? Did this mean that he was board-shorts? Ali's secret older guy? The thought of the love of her life with her best friend sickened Aria to the stomach. Desperately, she called his name out once more.

'EZRA! EZRA **PLEASE**! PLEASE… JUST… TELL ME THIS ISN'T TRUE, _**PLEASE, EZRA!**_'

Aria could take no more it felt as if her chest would collapse, her heart ached with sorrow, and she felt as if her legs could no longer hold her up. Before she could collapse to the ground she felt three pairs of arms catch her.

_Thank god. _

Aria knew she could always count on her friends to be there for her.

'Shhh… It's gonna be okay Aria.'

Spencer, neurotic-genius-girl Spencer, always there: the other half of Team Sparia. But not even Spencer's soothing could quench her cries.

'Ar, we don't even know if he's… Look there could be a hundred other explanations.'

'Then why would he run Em?! Why would he have the balls to stay and explain it to me?'

Emily's own eyes were filling with tears at this sight of her friend's anguish.

'You guys he is A. He's the one that has been making our lives hell for god knows how long. He probably only talked to me that day in the bar to get close to all of us. He's been using me all this time! And… and, he is exactly who we think he is Em. He's board-shorts. He's the older guy that Ali was seeing. He… he lied to me. He used me. And he's been trying to hurt us… hurt me… hurt our families.'

By the end of her rant, Aria had risen to her feet. She could tell her hair was in a disarray and there was make-up smeared on her face. But she didn't care, because her heart was broken. Shattered. Destroyed.

Nonetheless, she's be damned if she let anything happen to her friends. And if they missed the chance to find Ali and put an end to this messed up game once and for all.

'Come on then. Let's go hunt a ghost.'

And with that Aria Montgomery strode out of the small, dingy alley followed by her best friends.

* * *

From the top of the fire escape that Ezra had managed to climb up onto, he saw Aria break down. He saw her friends wrap their arms around her and try to comfort her. It took every ounce of his self-restraint to stop himself from running down there to take her in his arms.

And as he listened to her words he, felt tears of his own slip down his cheeks. He had never wanted her to get hurt in all of this. She was wrong, he didn't use her. He was so in love with her and that was the problem.

Sighing he pulled the cap over his head and did what he did best: disappear without a trace.

* * *

With a sigh Aria let herself into the house. She had insisted that the girls let her go home. None of them had wanted to leave her on her own after what had happened in Ravenswood. But Aria knew it would be difficult to explain to her dad the impromptu sleepover, especially after being gone for most of the day and night. And she kind of needed to be on her own with her thoughts right now.

Speaking of her father he greeted her as she stepped inside.

'Hey honey.'

'Oh dad… hey.'

'Are you okay Aria?'

'Yup… I'm great.'

Byron stood up from his desk and walked across to his daughter.

'Really? You look upset? Where were you?'

Aria had to force herself not to look into her dad's eyes, she knew if she did everything would come spilling out. But she couldn't allow herself to do that. She just shrugged and kept her eyes on the floor.

'Nowhere, the girls and I just went on an impromptu trip to Philly. We were celebrating the charges being dropped against Hanna's mom.'

'Okay, well I-'

'You know dad, I'm actually really tired so I'm going to head to bed if that's okay?'

Aria looked up, her eyes not quite meeting the concerned ones of her father.

'Well, alright then.'

Aria let out a silent sigh of relief. Quickly, she made for the stairs. But winced when she heard her father call her name.

'Yeah dad?'

'What's with the costume?'

_Crap._

Aria looked down, realising that she was still wearing the pink dress from the costume shop.

'Oh… um there was a costume party and a friend of Spencer's mom lent us the costumes.'

'Oh well, you look beautiful honey.'

Aria smiled, more grateful than ever for her father – even if she couldn't tell him what was going on in her life.

'Thanks dad, love you.'

'Love you too.'

* * *

Aria walked into her room and shut the door, pressing her forehead to it, exhaling heavily. It had taken every ounce of will she possessed not to crumble there and then. To fall into her father's arms and tell him everything.

'He's right you know. You do look beautiful.'

Aria whipped around, a scream rising in her throat. Before she could let it loose, _he _stepped forward and clamped a hand across her mouth.

'Shh…Shh…It's just me – don't scream.'

* * *

Byron smiled once more at his daughter and watched as she trudged up the stairs. He couldn't dismiss the feeling that something was really wrong. Sighing, he sat back in his office chair. Byron wished he could talk to Ella about this. Their marriage may have been in pieces, but she was still one of his closest friends.

Byron didn't miss the way Aria's arms were crossed against her chest, how her shoulders were slumped and how for that one brief moment where he managed to catch her eyes, they were filled with absolute dejection.

He kneaded his forehead in frustration. He didn't know what to do. Gone were the days where he could protect his baby girl from anything, gone were the times when a kiss was all she needed to feel better and for the pain to disappear. He prayed that he could figure out what was wrong and how to help Aria. Before it was too late.

* * *

'Okay if I let you go are you going to scream?'

There was a moment of silence, Aria shivered as his breath whispered in her ear. She was torn between wanting to break down and cry and kicking the _living __**crap **_out of him. Growling in frustration, she shook her head.

'Okay… I'm going to let you go now. Please don't scream.'

True to his word, he backed away and sat down on the bed. And then shot back up again to stand after Aria shot him a glare so fierce, it could have melted ice.

'What the _actual __**hell **_are you doing here Ezra? What did you come to gloat? To revel in my stupidity? And how the freaking **hell **did you even get into my house?! Oh wait I forgot, you're A, _you probably have your own set of keys!'_

Aria have stridden across the room, and was poking Ezra in the chest. He looked down and saw a 5ft 1 mass of pure fury. Gulping, Ezra placed his hands on the side of arms in an effort to calm her down and was rewarded for his efforts with her punching him straight across the face.

'OW! What the **hell **was thatAr?!'

In an effort not to alert Byron to his presence, they were both angrily whispering. If the situation had been in any other context it would have almost been funny. The thought struck Aria suddenly and immediately. She practically flew back to the opposite side of the room and stared him down. He was still wearing the clothes from Ravenswood. A black jacket and black baseball hat. It hurt just looking at him. Aria turned her face away and looked at her desk.

'Get out. Now.'

'Aria-'

'What?! What could you possibly have left to say?'

Ezra took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his fists.

'Look, would you just let me explain-'

'_Explain?!'_

Her voice became incredulous in tone.

'_**Explain?! **_Ezra, if you wanted to explain you could have just stayed where you were in Ravenswood. You could have let me come and talk to you, without taking off like that!'

There was an utter silence. They were both wide-eyed and breathing heavily. Aria suddenly became aware of the danger she could be in. If he was who they thought it was, this was someone that had been torturing them for god knows how long. This was someone who had gone out of their way to make her life, and her friends, a living nightmare. This was potentially the person who had tried to kill one of her best friends.

Ezra spoke, fracturing the heavy silence that had settled over the room.

'I couldn't have. Aria, it wasn't safe. I couldn't be sure that he wasn't watching.'

Aria shook her head trying to fight the traitorous tears threatening to fall.

'What are you trying to say? And **who in the name of all things holy** is _he_?'

The look on Ezra's face was terrifying. The anger taking over his features was unlike anything Aria had ever seen.

'_He, _is the person you are confusing me with.'

'_Excuse me?!'_

'He's, what did you call him? Board-shorts. The guy Ali was seeing that summer.'

'So where do you come into this exactly? Do you actually expect me to believe that you were an innocent bystander in all of this? No, no, don't tell me! You're actually trying to protect me from the bad guys, right? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'

She gave a mirthless laugh, crossing her arms whilst chewing on her lip. Ezra regarded her for a moment, as if deciding what to tell her.

'No. I'm not exactly innocent. But I am trying to protect you Aria and I need you to believe that.'

Ezra thought he saw her expression soften for a moment. When she spoke her voice was much more tired and resigned.

'No Ezra, honestly I can't believe that. No matter how much I want to.'

His tone suddenly grew harsh.

'Fine. Believe what you want. But believe me when I say this. You and your little friends need to buckle up and hold on tight, because he is coming for you. And unlike Mona, unlike CeCe – he doesn't give a damn what happens to you. As far as he is concerned you are just stepping stones until he can get to Alison. If you think what's happened to you so far is bad then _honestly _you have no idea what's about to happen. You woke the sleeping dragon tonight. And guess what Ar? He's _really _pissed.'

And with that he strode to her window, flung it open and before she could say anything he jumped out. Heart in her mouth she ran to look down and saw him dusting himself off. He pulled the hat tighter over his head and ran off into the night.

Aria didn't stop the tears as they ran down her face. She pulled and yanked until the stupid dress came off and dressed in her oldest most comfy sweats. She crawled into bed and pressed her face to the pillow in order to muffle her cries.

* * *

Just as she was about to drift off to sleep Aria heard the doorbell ring and the murmur of voices. Panicking, she sat up – what if it was Ezra (which made completely zero sense but hey tonight had been kind of crazy).

Before she could jump out of bed she heard several pairs of footsteps nearing her room. There was a knock at her door. She sighed in relief at her father's voice.

'Aria honey? Spencer, Hanna and Emily are here.'

'Um, yeah come in.'

The door opened and revealed her friends, her wonderful, gorgeous, _amazing, _friends. She could see takeout bags, rag mags and ice cream. She smiled and asked her dad,

'Is it okay if they stay over?'

Byron watched her thoughtfully for a moment.

'Sure, but ah can I talk with you in the morning?'

'Sure dad.'

'Okay well, not too late girls.'

He was met the familiar chorus of:

'Sure Mr. Montgomery.'

Smiling once more, he kissed his daughter on the forehead and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Once he left, Spencer immediately took charge, in true Hasting fashion.

'Okay, so we have vegan takeout, rag mags, Ben & Jerry's and _The Avengers.'_

Aria looked questioningly at her friends.

'Wait? _The Avengers? _I thought our default was sappy romance?'

Emily squeezed her shoulder as she answered.

'Yeah, but we thought you required something with like zero romantic subplot and many things blowing up.'

'And plus Chris Evans _and _Chris Hemsworth – yes please!'

Aria giggled at Hanna's wink, but her smile faded.

'Hey how are you? I mean about Caleb staying in Ravenswood.'

Hanna shrugged.

'I'm fine, no don't you roll your eyes at me! Honestly, I knew it was important that he stayed. And yeah, I'm gonna miss him but it's like he's moving to Iceland or anything.'

Aria nodded and smiled.

'Thank you guys, so much – I mean for just being here. I love you guys.'

'AND WE LOVE YOU TOO POOKIE BEAR!'

'Okay I take that back. I hate you all.'

The girls' laughter resounded into the night.

* * *

**A/N: So I hope you all enjoyed that! I realise I glossed over what went down in Ravenswood after the big reveal and why Caleb stayed in town. Also Ezra's motivations and how 'guilty' he is, is very ambiguous here. But because I feel like there are like a bajillion possibilities in terms of the path this story line was going to take (and we're going to find out in like, less than 2 months) I chose instead to focus on the emotions being played out.**

**Also this is very heavy in terms of the friendship between the girls as well as the paternal bond between Byron and Aria. I'm just a sucker for those relationships (and I kind of have daddy issues – don't even ask) and I love writing them. **

**I realise this wasn't exactly the happy ending that people were hoping for, but I think the show is going down the road of: 'Ezra is A (not Toby 0.2)' and I think things are gonna get pretty dark. So yeah this is my take, and I hope you liked it!**

**Leave me a review and hey what sort of scenarios would you to be played out, pertaining to Ezra being A?**

**As always thanks for the support and love guys!**

**-Min xo**


	2. What A Wicked Game (Part 1)

**A/N: Hi guys! Here's the first part of the 2****nd**** instalment of **_**Breaking Your Heart Was Never My Intention **_**(blimey that was a mouthful)**_**. **_**I know this is a series of oneshots but it was so long that I decided to split it into two.**

**Here's a brief summary:**

_**The girls have spent months setting a trap for A, but as we all know nothing goes to plan with A involved. Will the girls finally reveal the mystery of this 'uber-A'? And at what cost?**_

**So yeah hope you enjoy and as always please leave me a review!**

**By the way I made a fanmix about EzrA, there's a link to it in my bio. It's music that I felt related to the entire situation, you know Ez actually being a giant _bad_ass and how betrayed Aria would feel if she found out. And it's some of the music I have playing when I write these. :)**

* * *

Aria wrapped her arms around herself, trying to shield herself from the bitter cold. She could feel wisps of the hair being tossed around by the wind, they tickled her cheek – which she was sure were bright red from the chafing breeze.

Aria stomped her feet on the dirt covered floor, careful to avoid the branches strewn around.

_God if this doesn't work I am going to kill Spencer. _

Aria reached for the walkie talkie in her back pocket and tried to get hold of one of the others.

'Hello? Spence? Han?'

There was no response save for the crackle of static. Aria sighed, they were probably still getting in position.

After the general creepiness of what had happened in Ravenswood, the girls had decided that enough was enough. They had been carefully working on a plan to trap A and if they were right, Board-Shorts as well.

Spencer had made sure that the only time they communicated about the plan was through non-electronic means and as discreet as they could possibly be. After witnessing the level of surveillance they were under, they knew that A would know what they were up to if one of them so much as typed out the words on their phone.

It had been frustrating to say the least, to come up with ways of passing messages along to one another without the use of texts or emails. They even had to refrain from speaking out loud about it because they couldn't be sure who was watching them.

Although, if this worked, Aria had to admit it would be worth it. It would be worth it to find out just _who _was after them (and Ali). Aria secretly hoped that if they managed to get A/Board-shorts out of the picture then it would mean that Ali would feel safe enough to come out of hiding. Sighing once more, Aria clutched her jacket closer to her body.

Suddenly she heard a twig snap behind her. Whirling around she grabbed her flashlight and tried to see who it was. She let out a sigh of relief when Toby came into view.

'Oh my god, did you have to sneak up on me like that?!'

He raised his hands up in mock surrender.

'Sorry, sorry. Spence sent me to check on you.'

Aria rolled her eyes.

'God, she needs to stop worrying. Am I or am I not the person that **totally **kicked CeCe's butt a couple months back?'

Toby chuckled.

'Yeah, but telling Spence to stop worrying is kinda like asking Voldemort to just let Harry get on with his life and take up knitting or something.'

Aria's brow furrowed for a moment.

'Did you just compare your girlfriend to Voldermort?'

She giggled for a moment as Toby's mouth dropped open and he realised what he said.

'It's okay Tobes, I'll keep your secret.'

She winked and patted him on the arm. There was a moment of silence as they both watched the dark woods.

'Look I know you and Spence don't really like talking about this, but you and her worked with Mona for a good amount of time. Do you have _any _idea who we're dealing with?'

'Honestly? I don't know. Mona didn't trust us very much, for obvious reasons, but she gave the impression that she knew who Red-Coat was, even though she didn't. And if the Red-Coat who was giving Mona the orders, was CeCe, then CeCe was taking the orders from Board-Shorts. I'd say the only two people with an idea who he might be is CeCe and Ali, but we're not exactly in a position to ask them you know?'

'Yeah, but do you think CeCe knew who he is? I mean she didn't clue in Mona when she was giving the orders.'

'But she was never giving the orders. We spent so much time thinking Red-Coat was at the top when actually she's just another pawn.'

'God this is all so confuising. I have headache just trying to figure out who everyone is. I'm gonna need a chart.'

Toby just laughed quietly. Suddenly Aria's phone beeped. She and Toby looked at each.

'Well guess this is it, you better get in position.'

'Okay, and Aria?'

'Yeah?'

'Be careful.'

'Sure thing Toby. You too, oh and good luck.'

He smiled and then turned around, running back to where he was supposed to be. Taking a deep breath, Aria checked the text and started walking to her position. She just prayed this would work.

* * *

In his lair, A was watching the screen intently.

_What were they up to? _

He watched as Emily met up with Caleb in Ravenswood. They talked a bit about Hanna and what latest messages the girls had been receiving. It seemed they were still trying to track down CeCe.

Not that they would find her.

Just when he was about to switch over to see what Aria was doing, one of the many computer screens beeped, signalling one of the girls had sent a message. Sure enough, Emily pulled her phone out.

'Um Caleb, I actually have to run. I totally spaced that Paige and I had plans.'

'Oh okay Em, are you okay getting home?'

'Yeah, yeah I drove here.'

'Okay well see you soon, say hi to Hanna for me and please for the love of god, don't do anything stupid. I'm talking to all four of you.'

Emily laughed and gave Caleb a quick hug before saying:

'Don't worry we'll be careful. And hey Caleb, come and visit soon?'

He smiled and A watched as Emily ran off to her car.

Pulling up the message on the computer, he saw it was from Spencer A snorted. _Not Paige then._

It looked like she had sent it to Aria and Hanna as well. A felt his throat go dry and his stomach clench as his read the message.

'_S.O.S guys, I'm sure I just saw Ali and she left a message.'_

Attached was picture of a photograph of Ali and written in red lipstick:

'_Come and find me darlings. Oh and don't keep me waiting – it's rude. XO'_

Underneath there were some coordinates, checking them, they led to a small clearing in the forest where Mona had her 'glamiping' party. The clearing wasn't too far from where the tree inscribed with Ali and Ian's initials had stood.

A clenched his fists, he had to admit that did look like Ali's handwriting. He couldn't allow himself to let the chance of finding her once and for all just slip through his fingers. Before he made any rash decisions, he checked where each of the girls were.

Emily was still in her car racing back to Rosewood, he could track her journey from traffic cameras. Next he checked where Spencer was, he saw her jogging to her car, once inside she made a call to Toby. Quickly tracking the call, A saw that Toby was still in Wilmington, on a job. He had been there for the whole week. A quick glance at the CCTV outside the motel showing his parked truck and the light on inside his room confirmed that Toby wouldn't be getting in his way tonight.

A checked Hanna next, he saw her leaving her house. Spencer came and picked her up and off they went.

_Stupid little girls. They're going to lead me straight to her. _

Finally, A switched to the surveillance outside the Montgomery house – Aria's car was gone. He assumed that she had already left but not wanting to take any chances he did a quick scan for her location via the GPS he had installed on each of the girls phones. She was on the move, checking the corresponding traffic cameras he saw her car racing through Rosewood.

Satisfied that there was nothing untoward going on, A rose from his seat. He grabbed the tablet that allowed him to keep track of everything whilst on the move. Making sure he wasn't being watched, A quickly and silently exited the lair, making sure to lock up behind him this time.

Finally, it seemed, this game had reached its end.

* * *

**A/N: Okay I hope you enjoyed that! As I said the second part should be up in a few days! **

**I just really liked the idea of everyone (who knows about A) teaming up to turn the tables on A. And I think Aria and Toby should have more screentime, actually I think Toby should have more screentime with everyone – cause he's awesome! :P**

**So yeah! Leave me a review, tell me what you think. Also tell me some of your theories after the summer finale! What were your reactions? And tell me what type of storylines you would like to see crop up, I can't promise that I will definitely write them but I will try!**

**As always thanks for your support and hey! Only 52 days until the Halloween special!**

**-Min xo**

**(Damn, I use a lot of exclamation marks in these things….)**


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